RES JUDICATA: CONTINGENCIES, EXPECTATIONS AND THE ALTERABILITY OF CONDEMNING SENTENCE

Abstract

The article aims to demonstrate the dynamism and fluidity of procedural acts in a criminal case, based on James Goldschmidt's theoretical framework, known as the "legal situation of the case". To examine the applicability of this theory, the research used the deductive method and the methodology of analyzing a criminal decision, in which a specific criminal case had already been declared res judicata and the defendant's defense filed a Criminal Review action to overturn the conviction. The judgment allows us to conclude that the criminal process is a space of uncertainties, expectations, and contingencies. Res judicata reinforces that judicial acts are inserted in an environment of contingencies and legal expectations which, despite reducing the possibilities of modifying the effects of the criminal decision, is subject to change in cases of unjust convictions and judicial errors.